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Magical Focus
A Magical Focus turns the magic of the soul contained within a physical being in the Mortal Realm and transforms it into outward magic, usually in the form of spells. For most beings, this focus is mental (dragons and unicorns are the two exceptions). Finding a Focus After unlocking their magic, mages have to find a goal, called a focus, that their magic is aimed towards accomplishing if they wish to exert any control over their newfound powers. Mages with a settled focus that is honed to their preferred level will be able to do anything that they truly believe fits within that focus. By the way, “I know this is bullshit but it sorta technically fits,” does NOT count as believing. Unless you wholeheartedly believe that what you are trying to do fits within your chosen focus, it won’t work. Therefore, it would be foolish to pick a focus that you will not use often or aren’t passionate about. Until a mage has chosen a focus, their magic will be almost completely uncontrollable. Most are encouraged to decide on their initial focus before they finish unlocking their magical abilities. Focuses can be- and often are- changed over time as each mage matures and changes their priorities in life. No Focus? Mages who have not figured out the “focus” of their magic (aka the goal or intent behind every spell they cast) have a much wider range of powers, but very little control over them. This can be both a blessing and a curse. Some ambitious mages have attempted to gain control of this “focus-less” casting ability by attempting to hone their skill without ever choosing a focus, but this would invariably fail. After all, it requires focus to hone any craft, and eventually, whatever reason you wanted to have a wider range of spellcasting abilities in the first place would become your focus, whether you like it or not. For example, if you didn’t want to choose a focus because you wanted greater power, your focus on power would eventually become your magical focus (aka you’d deal a lot of damage but have few defensive spells). If you didn’t want to choose a focus because you wanted a wide range of abilities, your focus on increasing one’s range of abilities would end up as your magical focus (aka you’d be a support class hahahaha). Ideal Focus Structure The best focuses have a verb, direct object, and possibly an indirect object, if applicable. For example, Leila Abdi’s focus is, “Reveal that which is hidden.” The verb is “reveal” and that “which is hidden” is the direct object. Another example focus might be, “Bring hope to the hopeless,” where “bring” is the verb, “hope” is the direct object, and “the hopeless” is the indirect object. Obviously, you don’t HAVE to have a focus like this, but most mages use the “verb, direct object, and optional indirect object” pattern as a rule of thumb for good, clear focuses that still offer a lot of versatility. Most novice mages start out with a verb-only focus (“helping”) or a focus with a direct object that is much too vague (“helping others”) and their magical precision or consistency suffers as a result. Some mages intentionally accept this lack of control for the benefit of a wider range of powers, but most mages are far more content with their abilities once their focus has at least a verb and direct object. In addition, most experienced mages suggest not adding more than one preposition to your magical focus. Otherwise, your focus might become too specific. Again, every mage has different preferences on the matter, but these are good rules of thumb. Honing Your Focus Alrighty kiddos, this is the complicated part. Bear with me here; explaining theoretical concepts in a concise way is not my forte. I am expecting to receive questions and critiques on this section because I know it’s hard to understand at times, so do not hesitate to send them my way. Now that the spellcaster has found their focus, they are well on their way to gaining control of their powers. As a mage practices applying their focus to their abilities, their powers will become much more “focused” themselves. The mage then has a choice to make. The more specific their focus is, the more concentrated and controlled their powers will become. If, however, their focus is vague and undefined, their control over their powers will be also. For example, if a mage has no clear focus when they unlock their powers, they will be completely out of their control. A vague focus, such as the desire to help others, might give the mage control over when their powers activate, but not the direction, magnitude, or actual effects. A more specific focus, such as “bringing light to those living in darkness” will allow a mage to use their powers with much greater precision. However, this will limit what they are actually able to do. For the mage in the example, they will be able to light lamps or bring comfort to others with ease and complexity, but will lose their abilities that they might have had when their focus was less specific, such as helping happy, content people. Bear in mind that magic is based entirely on intent, so if you have a good enough focus (which jen seems to) then she can just do it. Magic isn't built on a system of specific spells, but an individually unique exertion of your very soul to impact yourself or the world around you. It's as natural as walking or talking, once you've learned how. You don't roll a dice to see what words come out of your mouth when you try to talk; you just say what you want to say, unless something like inexperience, disability, or mental injury is hindering you. Meanwhile, to go back to the bike example in learning about magic, messing up is still reliant on that intent. Getting caught on a rock won’t result on a different form of bike riding; you'll just fall or get jerked in a funny direction. Similarly, you might mess up the magic, or cast it in an erratic direction, or possibly tweak the effects of the magic slightly. Therefore, every mage must find a balance that allows them enough control to use their powers well and responsibly while still being general enough to allow them to be used in many different situations. This has to be an intentional balance that is constantly maintained; it is very common for mages to accidentally hone their focus too much or change it completely during a phase of their lives that is focused on another goal. A common story is that of spellcasters who fell in love and suddenly found their magic unusable. At first, this led to a superstition that love has the power to destroy any magic. In reality, the spellcaster had shifted their focus from their original, magical one to gaining the affections of their loved one. This has led to some… interesting moments, but never anything too creepy (at least, not on accident) for reasons I’ll go over in a moment. How specific a mage’s focus can become is entirely dependent on their ability to prioritize a single goal. If a mage dedicates their entire lives to justice, their powers might be very focused, even though justice is rather vague, because their entire mind is dedicated to that goal. If a mage’s focus is the ability to light candles, that will probably not be a very focused power, because- despite how specific that goal is- few people ever spend any length of time thinking about how much they want to light candles and why that’s important to them. In other words, the focus of one’s powers is not only dependent on how specific their goals are. It’s much more complicated than that. Imagine a piece of fabric on a bed of nails. You are able to push those nails forward 10 inches total. You could either push one nail forward for ten inches, two nails forward for five inches, or ten nails forward for one inch, creating small peaks in the fabric on top. These peaks will be taller if you push less nails forward, but there will be more peaks if you push more nails forward with less distance. This represents your focus and how powerful your magic will be depending on how vague or specific your focus is. However, your brain has hundreds of these beds of nails, not just one for magic. There’s one for socializing, one for living, one for schoolwork, one for fighting skills, etc. You have a million inches to spread across all of these nails to create a balanced, healthy mind that is able to allow you to succeed in life. However… if you wanted to take ALLLLLLLL of those inches and dump them straight into the bed of nails for your magic… it wouldn’t matter how many nails you pushed through; the resulting peaks would all be HUGE. Similarly, if you spent most of those inches on other parts of your life and only had a few inches left for magic, even pushing only one nail will result in a tiny peak. Therefore, a mage’s power is also dependent on how much time and effort and priority they place upon their powers from their storage of mental energy for their brain as a whole, not just upon how specific their magical focus is. I hope that makes sense. I’m not great at describing mental pictures like this, so let me know if you have questions and I’ll try to find a better way to explain it. One Final Note: A mage’s magic somehow takes into account every part of your entire brain and what makes them who they are in a way no one fully understands. This means that your magic will always be unique to YOU. Just like a fingerprint, you can be identified by the residual energies left behind by your magic soon after casting it, though these will fade in time unless magically preserved. However, unlike a fingerprint, your magic will constantly change and evolve as time goes on and you develop and change as a person. It will still have that telltale echo that identifies it as your magic, just like you will never stop being YOU no matter how much you change as a person, but it will definitely look, sound, and act differently over the course of your lifetime. How long does this take? Is there an average or specific amount of time people spend learning magic? Not really. Some people will take to it like *that,* but those people are rare and probably a bit too self-assured for their own good. Most people never stop learning magic. Your goals in life will change and evolve as you grow and mature. Therefore, your focus will also change and evolve over time. In addition, your focus requires constant intentional thought to keep in balance; otherwise, your goals might accidentally become too vague or specific. This means that most mages will always be tweaking and trying to learn a bit more about the possibilities of their powers and focus. In other words: Constant thought about your focus + Constant growth as a person = Constant re-evaluation of your focus and magical abilities Now, take into account how a mage’s greatest strength is their ability to find legitimate and clever ways to apply their magic to a variety of situations… You could spend all day playing word puzzles with yourself trying to figure out where your brain draws the line between “loophole” and “bullshit.” In conclusion, the best mages never stop learning magic. They will always be attempting to keep their focus in balance, evaluating their new life goals in relation to their focus, and seeking out creative ways to apply their focus to whatever trials they might face. Now, how long does it take for a mage to unlock their abilities? How long did it take you to learn to ride a bike? I’m willing to bet that everyone’s answer to that question would be completely different. Similarly, there isn’t an average time it takes to unlock one’s magic either. Physical Focus Aids Beings that do not have physical focuses (i.e. everyone except unicorns and dragons) cannot use a physical object to better control their magic. However, since maintaining that focus is a constant balance and intentional effort, many mages have an object that reminds them of their focus that they hold when spellcasting. This object has no magical power or focusing abilities on its own, beyond the personal significance it has for its owner. Some mages struggle to cast spells or keep their focus in balance without it, but not because the object is actually required for their spellcasting. It’s more like a safety blanket than an actual magic wand. The object can be literally anything that reminds the owner of their magical focus, and not all mages need one. Some can cast fine without one, but like having it anyway. Common items are pendants shaped like a significant symbol, wands or staves carved with symbols or words reflecting their focus, tools, weapons, articles of clothing, or nostalgic childhood belongings, but anything would work so long as it has personal significance to the mage in question. Even living creatures! Since there is no magical power actively residing or flowing through the object (the true conduit is your own mind) there is nothing stopping you from choosing whatever ridiculous or random object you think will help remind you of your focus. Obviously, you would probably want it to be a practical choice (something bigger than a breadbox would be difficult to carry around) but that's just advice, not a rule. Some people don’t even choose an item intentionally, kinda like how kids don’t set out to have a safety blanket; it just happens. Brains have a funny tendency to attach themselves to random things and make strange connections, and the part that is the true conduit for magic isn’t exempt from this rule. Many mages would probably have multiple objects, actions, or other items that remind them of their focus. Keeping your focus in balance is such a long-term intentional effort that surrounding yourself with reminders is a common way to ensure you don’t slip up and suddenly lose control of your abilities. For example, Leila Abdi is mute (AOS), and her magical focus is "to share things that are locked away.” This is mostly used to help her share her inner voice, but she also uses it to help The Watch discover hidden signs of The Enemy. One of the interesting things about Leila and her spellcasting is that she almost ALWAYS either sings a wordless melody or uses her hands to sign whenever she uses her magic. These two things are her “objects” that remind her of her focus. Since her strange and hauntingly beautiful manner of singing is one of the only things Leila can still do with her voice, this and her sign language abilities are the only two keys she possesses outside of magic to unlock the voice inside her own head. Doing one of the two while casting spells is a constant reminder of her focus on sharing other hidden things to the rest of the world. In addition, many mages get tattoos of something significant to their magical focus. However, there is a chance that your focus will change as you grow and mature, so a permanent thing like a tattoo might not be the best idea. Then again, you could always just find a new item, and the tattoo would be just a nice reminder of that other part of your life! And, in a world filled with magic, I bet there’s someone out there who’s focus would allow them to erase tattoos if it became too much of an issue. Category:Messy Page Category:Magi